


Whatever it Takes

by Cupcakemolotov



Series: Dance with the Devil [25]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - Human, Bargains, Dark Klaroline, F/M, Mentions of Character Death, Occult, discussion of sex, mentions of torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 11:10:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13762875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cupcakemolotov/pseuds/Cupcakemolotov
Summary: Stefan's old friend Klaus isn't who everyone thinks he is and he is hunting more than souls.





	Whatever it Takes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [melsbels](https://archiveofourown.org/users/melsbels/gifts).



> Thanks to @goldcaught for the prompt. I was bored at my layover that was delayed yesterday and super sleep deprived. So hopefully this makes sense.

Caroline hit the humid air with a sharp inhale, the lack of breeze leaving her hot and sticky from dancing. Lips pressed tightly together as she headed for her car, she wasn’t sure if her fingers shook from lingering arousal or rage as she tried to find her keys in her clutch.

“Leaving so early, Caroline?”

Rage, she decided as she lengthened her strides. Curling her fingers tightly around her key, she glanced up and nearly stumbled as Klaus appeared in front of her. His curls were disheveled, eyes dark with the same burning need inside her veins, the tangle of necklaces catching the glinting lights from the streetlights. She knew the softness of his shirt, the heat of his fingertips against her spine, and just how perfect he moved with her on the dance floor.

“Yup,” she drawled once she straightened, refusing to give him an inch. His eyes gleamed, a glimpse of gold flickering against his pupil and she set her teeth. How could she be such an idiot?

Caroline was no stranger to the occult.

When she’d been a kid reeling from the loss of her father and the disinterest of her mother, she’d snooped at Bonnie’s Grams house more than once looking for answer. Grams who had the most fascinating tattoos around her wrists, who naked perfect cherry pies and who watched Bonnie with old, old eyes. She also had a fascinating collection of books on magic and the occult.

Caroline had looked for anything that could put her family back together. She still remembered the day Grams had caught her, the anger and sympathy warring with disbelief. Grams had sat her down with such a tired expression on her face, and then told Caroline the true cost of such bargains.

“Demons,” she’d said firmly. “Are only interested in bargains. Whatever twisted emotions they claim to have, you can trust only two things about them: greed and jealousy. They are a pit of endless hunger and they will brook no other invading their territory or claiming what they consider there’s. To be claimed by a demon means there is no return, no escaping, no happy ending, do you understand Caroline? You cannot save someone from a bargain made and nothing in this world is worth the price they will demand from you.”

In a rare turn of events, Grams had let her ask all her questions. In return, she’d demanded that Caroline make a promise to never try to summon anything.

“Humans,” Grams had said firmly as Caroline had gathered her things to leave. “Belong on this side of the veil. Demons do not.”

The next week, the books had disappeared. Grams hadn’t answered any other questions, and had refused to admit to having ever owning those books. After college, Caroline had spent her free time studying the occult, particularly after Bonnie had disappeared in the weeks following Grams death. But the stinging rebuke Grams had given her as a child had lingered and she’d never been willing to look into bargaining to find her friend.

Not yet.

Then Damon had disappeared. Caroline hadn’t counted his disappearance as a loss but she’d watched as the weight of it had nearly crushed Stefan. As the months had dragged on it had become clear that Damon wasn’t coming back, and she hadn’t thought it strange when Stefan had introduced his old college buddy one night to what remained of their old circle.

The slender, snarky Brit with dangerous dimples hadn’t been what she’d have thought as someone dour Stefan would have stayed in touch with, but she’d been willing to overlook her concern if it meant someone was keeping both eyes on him. Someone who was not her.

Things had never really gone back to normal for her and Stefan after their disaster of a relationship. Stefan had never gotten over Elena and Caroline refused to be anything but a priority. Many an ex-boyfriend had complained about what they declared was too much neediness. It wasn’t that Caroline was against compromise, she just expected them to give as much as they wanted from her. What Stefan wanted she wasn’t interested in providing.

Being single when the hot new guy had been dropped into her circle of friends hadn’t been too bad, if for nothing more than eye candy. The weeks had stretched into months, and Klaus had integrated himself into their tiny group almost flawlessly. He’d been anything but perfect. His tongue was too sharp, his patience limited and she’d wished he’d choke on his arrogance more than once.

But sometimes he was funny and usually he was right, even if he was being a douche about it. She found herself arguing with him over the stupidest things, no matter how Stefan chastised her. There was something about the way he’d watch her, eyes dark and taunting, that left her with the urge to bite. Caroline had gotten the impression that he didn’t have many people who would roll their eyes and call him on his bullshit. But after a while he seemed to almost invite her opinion, had made a point to stand to close as she protested whatever ridiculous idea he’d gotten in his head that day

It’d finally been Stefan who’d jolted them out of strange holding pattern. His disapproval radiated everyone she and Klaus shared space, but the pallor of his face had started to concern her. Stefan was a brooder, and as much as he could annoy her, she didn’t want him to will himself to death in some weird display of grief. So one night at the bar she’d gotten Stefan drunk and cornered Klaus.

Thinking about her words now left her cheeks hot with embarrassment and Klaus’ smile said he he knew why. The absolute dick. Because Klaus wasn’t an old friend who was doing a shitty job of caring for Stefan. He wasn’t someone who was there to offer comfort. He was a demon, one that Stefan had summoned to find Damon.

Caroline couldn’t imagine the price.

And she felt like all kinds a fool. She knew the signs. That Stefan had brought a nightmare into their midst and hadn’t had the strength to warn them shouldn’t have kept her in the dark for so long. How many conversations had Klaus angled to his favor, how many traps had she unknowingly dodged by being contrary? Just because Klaus was currently in some sort of bargain with Stefan didn’t mean he couldn’t make other bargains.

And he was watching her with such triumphant eyes.

“Move,” she finally said to Klaus, chin lifting.

A brow arched, and the familiar look of arrogance on his face did funny things to her insides. “No.”

Rolling her eyes, Caroline moved to the side and set her teeth when he easily followed the motion. “I’m going home. Stop being an ass and go away.”

His dimples cut deep, the blue of his eyes fading beneath a wash of gold. “I do so enjoy your defiance, Caroline. Particularly when we both know it’s a false one. You enjoyed my hands on you.”

The gravel in his voice had her thighs pressing together beneath her skirt and she took a deep breath. It was true. She had enjoyed his hands and his voice and softly murmured promises that had left her overheated and aching. But admitting any of that seemed like a terrible idea now.

“Yeah, well, Stefan blurting out that you’re a demon is kind of a mood killer.”

Klaus seemed more amused by that statement than anything else, and he shrugged one shoulder, unconcerned. “It changes nothing.”

She bared her teeth. “The hell it doesn’t.”

Lips curling higher, he took a single step closer and it was a strain to keep from flinching away. Her nails bit into her palms, and Klaus canted his head to the side. “Ah, but while Stefan is tangled in a poisonous web of his own making, yours is so much sweeter. Lovely, protective Caroline.”

“I am a creature of free will. I have made no bargains and have accepted no promises.”

“But that’s not entirely true,” Klaus rebuked gently. He bent so his lips were a whisper from her ear, breath hot and tantalizing against her skin. “Your body eagerly drank up my every touch tonight. You wanted more. My hands against your thighs, my lips along your neck. If I flipped this pretty skirt high and pressed my cock inside you, I’d find you hot and wet and perfect.”

It was a physical strain not to sway into his body as he breathed out each word. Her skin vibrated as electricity ran down her spine, breath harshly uneven in her throat. “You’re a demon.”

“And you’re a feast,” he rasped before leaning back to study her face. His gaze flickered with satisfaction as he took in her parted lips and flushed cheeks, the darkness of her blown pupils. “Tell me love, is what I am what bothers you or the price you worry I’ll demand?”

She swallowed hard because his question was far to perceptive for her to be comfortable. It had been a shock, Stefan’s words. The buzz from her single drink had disappeared in a blink but not her arousal. It sat heavy and demanding in her belly, left her shaky and in need of relief. It had left her chest knotted with shame that she still wanted him. Klaus was destroying Stefan in a way that she couldn’t stop.

“Did you eat Damon?”

Klaus clasped his hands behind his back. “You really are delightfully intelligent, Caroline. It amused me at first, such a pretty face and sharp tongue, another bauble to add to my collection. “

Her spine stiffened. “I am not something to be collected.”

The slant of his mouth was arrogant. “You’re human love. All humans are just a single bargain, a single breath away from finding themselves eternally trapped in a demon’s web. The veil is such a thin thing, holding back only the weak of spirit or mind. I am neither.”

She shivered at the coolness of his words, the pit that crawled behind his eyes. “I am not your prey.”

“No?” He teeth gleamed in the light. “I’ve been hunting you for weeks. First because Stefan, even as I take him apart in such agonizing bites, is really such a bore. Such a delightful distraction you were, with your fierce eyes and defiant tongue. The night you took it upon yourself to defend Stefan, to chastise me for what you saw as a failing in my duty as his friend? I wanted test that fierceness with silken ropes in my bed. I’ve wondered just how long you could hold on to that temper of yours when I’m circling your clit with my tongue?”

Her knees locked, heat flushing through her like a wave at his words. Swallowing to work moisture back into her mouth, she shook her head. In denial or frustration, she wasn’t sure.

Klaus angled his head to study her face and the golden sheen against his pupils left her fingers trembling. “I’ve tangled you with honey ropes and honest words, Caroline. Tempted and teased and lured. Tell me, if Stefan hadn’t opened his mouth tonight in a fit of suicidal chivalry would you have let me take you home?”

Home, where she’d have let him coax her into any manner of filth if he’d used right words. Home, where she’d have been just as greedy as his eyes were now. Naked against her sheets, his mouth between her thighs and his demands rough and suggestive against her skin, she’d have given him anything he wanted. She struggled to draw air into starving lungs. “It doesn’t matter.”

Klaus took another tiny step, until the fabric of her dress nearly brushed his shirt. Her dress did nothing to hide the hard points of her nipples, the flush along the curve of her breasts. She wavered on her heels, body teetering on a precipice her mind couldn’t quite comprehend.

Klaus didn’t touch her, but she felt his words against her skin as if he had. “You’re so wet you’re dripping for me. I can smell it.”

“So what if I am?” She demanded brazenly, voice barely trembling. “Once I’m in my car that’s easy enough to deal with. I’m a big girl. Getting off on my own fingers isn’t a new experience for me. You deliberately kept me in the dark and have admitted to trying to trap me. I have no reason to want you in my bed tonight or any other night. All I have to do is wait out this deal with Stefan and you go away.”

Klaus laughed softly at her words, eyes glittering with a warmth that curled her toes. “I’m already anchored here, Caroline. My hooks on this earth span continents. Do you understand what that means? There is no place you could go that I couldn’t follow, no sky I couldn’t hunt you under. But I don’t think you wish to run.”

Her heart was a hammer in her throat. “You don’t know that.”

“Oh, but I do.” He clucked his tongue and ran his tongue across his lips. “You fancy me.”

Caroline spine snapped straight. “I certainly do not.”

“Lying to a demon is impossible, love.”

Finger rising to jab near his chin, her gaze narrowed. “Whatever I may or not have felt about you was a lie because Klaus Mikaelson was a lie.”

His chin dipped and Klaus caught her finger. “Willing to risk your soul on that, Caroline?”

She ground her teeth when he brought the pad of her finger to his lips and licked it, the brush of his tongue a slow glide. Her stomach trembled as she realized her threat to her herself off would include that using that fingertip to stroke her clit. Taking a steadying breath she angled her chin. “Yup.”

The scrape of teeth and then he released her and stepped away. Eyes truly golden now, his canine sharp in the streetlight, there was something impossible magnetic about his true face as he smiled at her. “Good. I’ll be seeing you very soon, Caroline, and we’ll see if your defiance is as strong as you think it is, hmm?”


End file.
